After two days of fighting, M23 rebels seized several towns and villages in Rutshuru territory, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, causing more than 100,000 people to flee, according to the UN.
Extending its hold in North Kivu, the M23 (“March 23 Movement”), supported by the Rwandan army, took control of the town of Nyanzale, located approximately 70 kilometers north of Goma, capital of Province. The Congolese army and the armed groups that support it have been pushed back north.
During the clashes, at least fifteen civilians, including children, died in bombings on Nyanzale, a town of more than 80,000 inhabitants, where several tens of thousands of people, displaced by previous clashes, had found refuge. For several months, the town had been filled with Congolese soldiers and militiamen, gradually driven out of their bases as the M23 gained ground.
A Congolese security source contacted by telephone confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) the capture of several localities in the Rutshuru territory. “We are fighting at the moment,” she said, adding that “the enemy has taken control of the villages of Kashalira, Kirima, Ngoroba and the town of Nyanzale.” Clashes were still underway on Wednesday evening in several localities, including around the town of Kibirizi, which was largely emptied of its population and the humanitarian workers who worked there.
Obligation to “flee again” if hostilities persist
After eight years of sleep, the M23, a predominantly Tutsi rebellion, took up arms again at the end of 2021 and seized large swaths of North Kivu, until at the beginning of February cutting off all land access routes leading to Goma, except that of the Rwandan border.
OCHA, the United Nations humanitarian coordination, declared on Monday that the “residents of the displaced sites and host communities” of Nyanzale and Kirima were fleeing “to calmer areas, but where it is difficult to provide assistance due to access” complicated.
Estimating on Wednesday at “more than 100,000” the number of people who have fled in two days of fighting, the UN agency is concerned that these people “will be forced to flee again if hostilities persist” and that their living conditions will become “untenable if no rapid assistance reaches them.”
An internal report from Monusco (the UN mission in the DRC) consulted by AFP accuses the M23 of having “fired [Monday] mortar shells at the Kihondo displaced persons camp [3 kilometers from Nyanzale] , injuring twelve civilians, five of whom died from their injuries.” The M23 also allegedly “fired six mortar shells” near a UN base, “injuring another civilian,” the report adds.
At the end of 2023, the United Nations estimated that nearly 7 million people were displaced in the DRC, including 2.5 million in the North Kivu province alone, which is plagued by several armed conflicts.
The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo began its withdrawal from the country last week, demanded by Kinshasa which considers it ineffective, with the official handover to the Congolese authorities of the first of its bases in South Kivu ( East). After twenty-five years of presence, the departure of the peacekeepers was recorded in December 2023 by the United Nations Security Council, despite its concerns about the escalation of violence in eastern Congo.
